Coupling-head and process of making same



J J. GLASS. COUPLING HEAD AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

I APPLICATION FILED AUG. I6, 1919. 1,354,904, Patented 001;. 5, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH J. GLASS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGN- MEN TS, 013 ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM L. READ AND ONE-HALF TO CHARLES F. READ,

BOTH OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COUPLING- HEAD AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

Application filed August 16, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn J. GLAss, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coupling-Heads and Processes of Making Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to coupling heads for use in connecting train-line air-hose and the like, and has for its primary object the provision of an improved construction and arrangement of parts for coupling heads whereby a non-corrodible gasket seat is permanently positioned within the coupling head. Another object lies in the provision of an improved construction and arrangement of parts whereby the non-corrodible gasket seat is protected by an exterior flange of relatively harder metal from violent contact with foreign objects. A further object is to provide an improved process for making coupling heads. Economy in manufacture and the reduction of the cost of maintenance are still further objects.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification and illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings: i

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a pair of connected coupling heads constructed according to the present invention, one being in section, and the other partly sections on line 1-1 of Fig. 2.

Fig.2 is an elevation of the face of one of the coupling heads shown in Fig; 1, a portion being shown in mutilated section to illustrate the interior construction.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2. V

Fig. 4: is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section through the unfinished casting for my invention.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Figs. 6 and 7 areviews respectively similar to Figs. 4 and 5, illustrating a more ad vanced stage in the making of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, reference numerals 10 and 11 indicate generally a pair of mating coupling heads a description of one of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Serial No. 317,851.

which will, of course, suffice for both. Coupling head 10 will therefore be described, it being noted that it is of that gen eral type now employed as standard on steam and electric railroads. The malleable iron casting 12, which forms the body of the coupling head, is cored out to form the usual air port 13 positioned centrally in what is customarily termed the meeting face 14; of the casting. There is also cored out, in the present invention, as indicated at 15, in Figs. 4 and 5, the upper portion of a slot-like ring seat 16, this ring seat be ing later completed by machining away the cast metal to the shape seen at 16 in dotted lines in Figs. 4.- and 5 and in full lines in Figs. 6 and 7. The ring seat 15 opens downwardly from the top of the casting, is remote from and parallels the face 1% of the latter, and, from the level of the axis of the air port 13, its sides extend straight upward to permit insertion of a brass ring17 which, in the completed device, forms the permanently fixed seat for tie'usual rubber gasket 18. A plurality of staggered malleable iron fingers 19 are cast on opposite sides of the ring seat 16 at the top thereof for a purpose'to be described. Vhile numeral 15 has been applied to the cored-out upper portion of the ring seat, the entire finished ring seat and the slot-like opening thereto are indicated by numeral 16.

The coupling head casting is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 as it comes from the mold, and in this condition a rotary tool is inserted through port 13 and the malleable iron. is machined away to complete the lower semi-circular portion of ring seat 16. The ring 17 is of brass, which is softer than the iron of the coupling head body, and it is made about one one-thousandth of an inch greater in diameter over all than the diameter of its seat 16. The casting 12 is now mildly heated to slightly increase the diame ter of the ring seat, and ring 17 is then forced into the seat, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. In radial section the ring 17- is initially of rectangular contour as shown in full lines in Fig. 7. \Vith the ring so positioned, the mildly increased temperature of the casting is retained while solder 21 is melted into the segment-shaped upper extremity of the slot-like ring seat 16, themetal of the casting extending considerably beyond the periphery of ring 17. It has been stated that the, casting 12 is mildly heated. 'T his heating has'the' two objects: first, to so'expand the casting as to render easy the forcing of ring 17 into its seat, and also the object of maintaining the casting in warm condition while the solder 21 is poured so that the solder will completely fill that portion of ring seat 16 not occupied by the ring itself; however, it is to be understood that this mild heating of casting 12 is not sufficient to alter the temper or physical character of the iron in any way. The solder 21 is now calked down upon ring 1'? so that it is pressed tightly against that ring and against the opposite sides of the ring slot 16 in order to create as much friction as possible between the body of solder and the sides of the ring slot to resist any tendency of ring 17 to leave its seat. As an additional means of retaining the seat in position, the malleable iron fingers 19 are now bent down upon the solder and hammered into 1t, as best seen 111.F1gs. 2, 8, 6 and 7.

' The solder 21 and ring 17 are thus firmly secured within the casting, and the shrinkage of the latter, upon its cooling, binds the parts still more tightly together.

A gasket-retaining channel 22 for reception of the flange 28 of gasket 18 is now formed in the coupling head, this channel being shown in dotted outline in Fig. 7, and in full lines in Figs. 1 and 3. Channel 22 is cut partly from the malleable iron of the castingand partly from the non-corrodible brass ring 17, the machined face 24 of the ring'forming the seat for the gasket to receive the inward pressure thereof when couplings 10 and 11 are coupled together in operative position. Of course the soft rubber gasket 18 is easily forced into position in the channel 22.

1t is well known that a gasket seat of brass or. some other non-corrodible metal is necessary in couplings of this type; but 1t has been a dlsadvantage of certain couplings heretofore marketed that the brass portion furnished for this purpose became loose and fell out. Attention is directed to the fact that the brassring 17 of this invention is not inserted into the casting through an annular space provided about the air port 13 but is inserted from the top of the casting and stands in a plane at right angles to the axis of the'air port. It is further noted that the brass ring is remote from the face 14 of the coupling so that an annular flange-like body 25 of malleable iron overlies ring 17 and absolutely prevents the ring from moving out of the casting in a direction parallel with the axis of the air port. The close bond formed between the brass ring and the casting shrunk about it, as well as the ring lock formed of the body exposed on the meeting face 14: of the coupling head where it was easily injured by contact with foreign Ob ects. It is a fact that in many railroad shops couplings are removed from the air hose and thrown a distance varying from ten toithirty feet upon a'pile of couplingscast aside to be repaired; also, in practice, the face 1 1 the coupling is very frequently struck by foreign objects, and, being hitherto formed of soft metal, has been mutilated, necessitating the removal of the brass portion of the coupling head and its replacement by a new brass part. To overcome this disadvantage, it is particularly noted that applicant positions his brass gasket seat remote from the outer face of the coupling and additionally protects it by the body of malleable iron 25,

which projects over the greater portion of the relatively soft, brass gasket seat so that, regardless of rough usage, the brass is protected from mutilation by striking foreign objects. It is further noted that in the present construction a saving is effected-inasmuch as the amount of brass required in making the coupling head is reduced over what has heretofore'been considered necessary. It will be noted that the gasket 18 is held in place by a retainer the outer portion'of which comprises the comparatively cheap annular malleable iron body 25, and the inner portion only of which consists of the brass 17. Thus, the portion 25 of malleable iron is substituted for the brass heretofore positioned in the face of the coupling, thereby reducing the amount of brass employed, and hence the cost of the metal entering into thecoupling. After the fingers 19 are bent down into the solder 21, they may be smoothed by an emery-wheel to conform to the surface of the coupling, and, after the customary painting of the coupling, the solder 21 and fingers 19 are not visible, and the coupling head may be marketedin very neat condition. If it is found feasible, as a matter of casting, the hole of the ring seat 16 may be cored out when the casting is made, thereby reducing the amount of machinery necessary in making the casting. w

I claim: 7

1. In a coupling head, the combination with a cast iron body having a coupling meeting face and provided with a port opening inwardly through said face, of a ring of nonI-corrodible metal surrounding said port at a position'remote from said flat face, there being a gasket-retaining channel formed in the coupling head remote from metal.

2. In a coupling head, the combination with a cast iron body provided with an air port, of a ring of non-corrodible metal surrounding said port and fixed in said body by a fluid-tight joint at a point remote from the outer terminus of said air port, there being a gasket-retaining channel opening from the. periphery of the air port, the outer wall of said channel comprising a portion of the cast iron of said body, and the inner wall of the channel comprising the metal of said ring.

In a coupling head, the combination with a cast iron body having a coupling meeting face and provided with a port open ing inwardly through said face, of a noncorrodible metal ring surrounding said port at a position remote from said flat face, there being a gasket-retaining channel provided in the coupling head remote from said flat face and formed partly in the iron of the casting and partly in said ring.

d. In a coupling head, the combination with a body having an air port, of a ring of non-corrodible metal surrounding said air port remote from the outer terminus thereof, and a ring protecting flange of cast iron surrounding said air port outwardly of and spaced from the ring, the inner di ameter of said flange being slightly greater than that of the ring.

5. in a coupling head, the combination with a cast iron body formed with an air port of given diameter at its outer tern'iinus, and provided, at a point remote from said outer terminus, with a gasket-retaining channel opening from said air port, of a ring of non-corrodible metal forming the inner wall only of said channel, the inner diameter of said ring approximating, but being slightly less than the diameter of the air port of said outer terminus, and the outer diameter of the ring exceeding said air port diameter, said ring being embeddec in the bod in a fluid-tight 'oint.

5. In coupling head, the combination with a body having an air port and a. coupling meeting face intersected thereby, there being a ring-receiving seat formed in the body remote from and substantially paralleling said face, of a ring of non-corrodible metal mounted in said seat and surrounding the air port, said ring seat being continued to the exterior of the casting to form an entering slot for said ring, and means positioned in said slot for holding the ring in its seat.

7. In a coupling head, the combination with a ported body having a coupling meeting face intersected by said port, there be ing a ring-receiving slot opening into the body from one side thereof remote from and substantially paralleling said face, of a ring of non-corrodible metal fixed in said slot in an air-tight joint and surrounding the port, a body of solder-like metal filling the outer portion of the slot and calked thereinto and against said ring, and malleable iron lingers formed about the opening of said slot and bent down upon said solder-like metal.

8. As an article of manufacture, a coupling head having a gasket-retaining channel formed about its port, the outer wall of the channel being integral with the body of said headand the inner wall being of non-corrodible metal.

9. The herein-described process of making coupling heads, which consists in slotting the head at a point remote from the coupling meeting face thereof, forcing a non-corrodible metal ring into said slot, and securing the ring within the slot in a fluid-tight joint.

10. The hereindescribed process of making coupling heads, which consists in embedding within the body of the head at a point remote from the surface thereof a ring of non-corrodible metal surrounding the air port of the coupling, and securing said ring within the body in a fluid-tight joint.

11. The herein-describes process of maliing coupling heads, which consists in incorporating in the body of the coupling, at a point remote from the outer surface thereof, a ring of non-corrodible metal surrounding the air port of the coupling head.

12. The herein-described process of making coupling heads, which consists in providing the coupling head, at a. point remote from its coupling meeting face, with a ring seat surroundingthe port of the coupling and continued to form a ringentering slot intersecting the exterior surface of the coupling head, slightly heating the coupling head, forcing through said slot and into the seat a ring of non-corrodible metal whose diameter is slightly greater than that of the ring seat when the coupling head is cool, pouring molten metal into said slot and upon the ring, and cooling the coupling head. 

